Tuesday, December 31, 2013

There were no exciting travel adventures - the furthest places we went were Bright and Echuca, and those were only quick weekend trips. We did manage a weekend in the city as well, and we got out to a few restaurants, some Yarra Valley breweries, plus I attended a few fun blogging events, so it's not like I sat at home all year like some sort of Nelly-no-friends.

There were no huge, life-changing events, either good or bad, so I guess that's a win? Life just chugged along pretty much as it normally does for me. Health was generally good - apart from a banged-up elbow, courtesy of the mountain bike, and my recent run-in with a garden nemesis.

We did celebrate our youngest child becoming an adult just last week, so I guess that heralds a new phase of our life. Although... he won't have his driver's licence for at least six months, as he took his sweet time getting his learner's permit and hasn't held it for long enough to sit the test yet. So I'm condemned to continue with taxi driver duties for a while longer. *sigh*

Anyway, overall it was a solid year in terms of training, rehabbing creaky body parts and getting on top of my life-long digestive woes. Work was OK - even pretty interesting a lot of the time - and it pays for some of life's little extras, so I can't grizzle about it too much.

Highlights of the year? Well, just stuff that I did, saw or enjoyed along the way.

Next year I have three major plans:

1. Blog more. This past year, blogging has taken a back seat as I've concentrated on training, increased my hours at work and attempted to focus a bit more on social and family time. I have heaps of things to say and am inspired by so many other bloggers, and I'm determined to write more, both in terms of volume and quality. We'll see how that goes.

2. Enjoy our Big Trip. This really is a capital letter kind of holiday because: Europe! Six weeks shall be spent soaking up the sights, culture, history, food (and wine) of France, Spain, England and Scotland, with an extra week(ish) in Singapore and KL.

3. Spend more time in the saddle. I'm already working on this - the road bike has made it down off the rack on the garage wall and I did a session on the trainer the other day so I could reacquaint myself with the gears before taking it out on the road this morning. I only rode around the quiet neighbourhood streets, with Bike Boy trailing me like a nursemaid. And I may have only had one shoe clipped in... but hey, I managed not to go SPLAT, which is a major achievement. Baby steps and all that. ;)

No S.M.A.R.T. goals amongst that lot - just a short list of a few things I enjoy that I want to do more of or do better. I think that's enough to be going on with.

Happy New Year to all of you - I hope 2014 brings you nothing but good things.